Title: Paul's Passion (Romans 1:8-15)
Contents
There is a McDonald's hamburger company that is widely known around the world. Some of you may enjoy McDonald's here. The founder of McDonald's is "Kroc McDonald". President McDonald's initially sold hamburgers and french fries in Chicago with the money he raised from selling paper cups. 1) He meticulously took note of the best temperature for bread and how to cook meat softly. 2) Based on this research, McDonald's was established in 1955 and grew into a global company. I was 52 at the time. McDonald's currently has 24,500 stores in 114 countries.
Its asset value is as high as 330 trillion won. In the 118-year history of the Salvation Army, as an individual, he made the highest donation of 112 billion won and became a hot topic. 1) What is the secret to his success in starting a business beyond his middle-aged head? 2) McDonald's management philosophy is passion and vision. 3) Kroc MacDonald tells its employees, “The most important thing entrepreneurs need is passion, not a doctorate. Only those who make and deliver the food themselves can become executives of the company,” he said. Ability is important, but passion is more important than ability.
*** Even now, McDonald's closes at 11pm, but the clerks say that they don't leave work until 2am. That's because every machine is torn apart, disinfected and reassembled. They work with a passion to impress customers.
***There are several impressions that McDonald's gives.
First, he conquered the world with one hamburger.
Second, it has become a global company even after starting a business over the age of 50.
Third, it is a personnel policy that emphasizes sincerity and passion rather than academic background or ability.
***Successful people in this world have several things in common, and one of them is that they are passionate people who 'dedicated themselves to one thing only'.
*** The Coca-Cola company in the United States became a huge conglomerate by selling beverages, isn't it purely because of the passion of the company's president?
**If we want to become successful believers, we also need this passion.
There are two driving forces that inspired the Apostle Paul to have a passion for the gospel.
1. The first driving force is the consciousness of calling.
Paul's vocation is well described in Romans 1:1.
Paul was a persecutor of Jesus Christ in the past. However, after Paul had the experience of meeting Jesus Christ, whom he was persecuting, he had a strong sense of calling. He came to have an attitude that it does not matter whether he lives or dies as long as he has no other wishes and only preaches the gospel.
***Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and then to the Greek.” What is the Gospel? The gospel is the news of the victory achieved through the cross of Jesus Christ. He was not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that gives salvation to those who believe.
*Because of this sense of calling, I went on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd mission trip. In the meantime, Paul was beaten countless times, /stoned,/ imprisoned countless times, / starved and naked countless times,/ suffered persecution, but never stopped preaching the gospel. This is what gave Paul the passion for the gospel.
2) I had the heart of being the debtor of the gospel.
It is clearly shown in Romans 1:14-15. “I am indebted to both Greeks and barbarians, both wise and foolish.” said Paul zealously preached the gospel with the thought that he especially owed the gospel to the Gentiles.
***The reason for this is that they arrested and imprisoned those who believed in Jesus, and persecuted them beyond words. After experiencing the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ, Paul had the heart of being a “debtor” for the gospel, and therefore he preached the gospel diligently with the heart of a debtor paying off his debts.
***In the 1880s in Korea, medicine was brought to Joseon by missionaries and hospitals were introduced. The same was true of Severance, Jeonju Jesus Hospital, and the education business. Ewha Girls' High School, Baehwa Girls' High School, Kyungsin, Paijae, and Yeonhui College, the predecessor of Yonsei University, were all brought in by missionaries. Missionaries, not just one missionary, but their entire family devoted themselves to God, and came to Korea, a barbaric country called Korea.
**There was no electricity, so I had to live in a lamp, /toilet or /toilet paper, so I had to suffer, and even if I got sick, I had to suffer because there was no hospital or medicine. Missionaries also have families. I have young children and a wife... I have dedicated all of these things to the gospel. Because of their tears, sweat, and blood, we who are today are saved by believing in Jesus and become children of God.
**Until we accepted the Gospel and believed in Jesus... I don't know how many missionaries' blood, sweat, and passion are hidden. We must never forget this grace.
***Jesus' life was a life of evangelism. The purpose of Jesus coming into this world was to evangelize. When Jesus was conceived in Mary's body, the angel said to Joseph, "You will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus. For he is the one who will save his people from their sins.” Jesus came to preach in other words. Jesus' life was a life of evangelism.
So, in Mark 1:38, He said, "Let us go to other nearby villages, and there we will preach there as well, for this I have come."
When Jesus went from village to village during his public life, performing miracles or doing something for people, the purpose was clear. 1) It was meant to save human souls. 2) When we fed 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish, the miracle was for evangelism. 3) The purpose of Jesus' death was also clear. 3) Because Jesus died on the cross, many people died expecting to return to the Lord. In short, He died to evangelize.
*** How do you know if you have faith or not? If you evangelize, you have faith, and if you do not evangelize, you have no faith. The confirmation of saved faith is revealed through evangelism. Since I have received grace, the heart that cannot bear without evangelism is the faith that has received grace.
***You may also know Dr. Geunmo Jeong, who served as the former Minister of Science and Technology.
That elder was very close to Dr. Kim Jae-ik, who was the ‘Chief Economic Secretary of the Blue House’ during the Chun Doo-hwan administration. However, Dr. Jaeik Kim did not believe in Jesus. Elder Jung always had a burden on his heart because of that friend.
We should meet someday and preach. Then one day, we got the chance to meet each other. Elder Jung said, “Dr. Kim, I have a very important story I want to tell you today, and I want you to listen carefully! “I rushed out like this. However, I don't know if I knew what Elder Jung was going to say in advance, but I didn't take it seriously and kept pouring out economic and political stories. Because of this situation, Elder Jung was no longer able to evangelize.
So, after taking the first step, I couldn't continue talking, so I wasted all my time and parted. At that time, I said it was really painful. However, the two of them were too busy to see each other for a long time, but another opportunity arose.
**Elder Chung became the first Korean to attend the International Atomic Energy Association in Shanghai at the official invitation of the Chinese government. So I met Dr. Jaeik Kim to share this news. However, after meeting and talking to each other, Dr. Jaeik Kim was also saying that in a few days, he was going to visit Myanmar with the president. So, we spent time exchanging stories about going to China and going to Myanmar, but after only looking for opportunities to evangelize, we broke up that day as well.
However, one day when Elder Jung went to Shanghai to attend the association, he heard about the bombing of Aung San through the news. A little later, I heard the news that Dr. Jaeik Kim had also died. It is said that after hearing the news, he broke his heart and wept in his hotel room. Then he hurriedly returned home and went to the mortuary. She was looking at the deceased's spirit while shedding tears of sorrow, and it was as if the friend was saying this.
“Hello, Dr. Jung. Why didn't you tell me the story sooner? Couldn't you tell me a little earlier? Why didn't you tell me?" It is said that he kept hearing voices that seemed to criticize him severely. There may be people around us who are at risk of missing out on this opportunity completely if we do it wrong. How long will you keep it? If death comes to that person even tomorrow, who is responsible for not being saved? We need to know that our silence is more of a problem than his stubbornness.
***Like Paul, 1) we must have a clear sense of calling that we have been chosen for the sake of the gospel. 2) You must also live with the heart of being “indebted to the gospel.” 3) So, with the passion of the gospel, I pray that the work of saving the dying souls will take place.